All three aim to harness the benefits of placing skilled technicians in the same place, in the hope that their proximity will create opportunities for collaboration and intellectual development that leads to new ideas and new products. The facilities include showrooms and proving-out labs for customers to learn about the possibilities of new products and solutions, as well as trial samples off line. Also, the facilities include the ability to interact with external organisations, such as universities or supply chain partners.
Würth officially opened the CUR!O Reinhold Würth Innovation Center at corporate headquarters in Künzelsau at the end of September, and will ramp up to full operations by the end of the year. The 15,000m² building includes an anchor laboratory, workshops, test fields, climatic chambers, 3D printing, seismic test benches and IoT laboratory.
The company says: “The aim of the innovation centre is to shorten the innovation cycles in the areas of fastening technology, screws, dowels, chemistry, machines and systems and to bring new and further developments to the market even faster.”
Thomas Klenk, Würth managing director for purchasing, product, marketing and divisions, said: “We achieve this by networking customer applications, academic research and our own production know-how” (see also interview, in box below).
Around 250 employees will work there, from product development, materials testing and R&D and the group’s production companies will meet external scientists through university cooperation with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Stuttgart. “Through this network, we strengthen our own manufacturing expertise and innovative strength,” Klenk adds.
The building will include 3,500m² of office space and 6,000m² of laboratory areas, including chemistry and materials laboratories. Interactive workshops will bring customers into the development of products and services, as well as training. “The direct transferability from research to industrial implementation is an important core element,” he says.
Nearly double that investment is Henkel’s Adhesive Technologies Inspiration Center Düsseldorf, pictured above, which opened officially in September. Over seven floors, the building, three times the size of the Würth structure at 47,000m², includes 30 modular laboratories and four technology centres, which are double-height spaces that house pilot production lines and equipment for large-scale applications, for example automotive.
One of the laboratories is data-driven, where new formulations are automatically prepared, tested and verified around the clock. According to Henkel, this enables a faster product development cycle and reduced time to market for new products by transforming data into insights that lay the foundation for innovative new technologies.
The building will house some 650 staff in R&D, product development application technology, technical service and innovation. Collaboration is a key theme, whether in the central glass atrium with coffee bar, or through the use of what Henkel calls ‘advanced digital tools and processes to improve knowledge sharing, increase efficiency and foster open dialogue’ - including a cloud-based tool said to offer leaner, faster and highly collaborative innovation.
Also, like at Würth, there is a customer focus. There is a ‘customer experience centre’ that covers Henkel Adhesive Technologies applications through digital technologies and exhibits, as well as providing a space to ‘intensify the exchange and collaboration between customers and Henkel experts’ as well as performing customer trials.
Jan-Dirk Auris, executive vice president, Henkel Adhesive Technologies, says: “We offer our employees here an inspiring working environment that promotes knowledge exchange and daily collaboration and uses state-of-the-art technologies. At the same time, the ICD brings our entire portfolio to life for our customers and enables close collaboration with them and with external partners on novel future-oriented solutions.”
A company spokesman says that, for the first time, the Inspiration Center brings all of Henkel Adhesive Technologies products – adhesives, sealants and functional coatings - under one roof. It adds that it will not substitute physical visits at customers or dealers, but is designed instead to empower collaboration.
It will join an R&D network of 61 labs located globally.
PROMOTING AUTOMATION
The smallest of the three new facilities is 3M’s Bonding Process Center, opened just before the pandemic in 2019. However, it has equally limited corporate aims, which centre around customer demonstrations and trials, and training, with a focus on one particular type of technology: automation.
“The 3M Bonding Process Center is our new hub to drive the development of automated bonding together with customers in the EMEA region,” said regional division director Stefan Dornieden at its launch.
“Customers not only experience what automation can do, especially in the area of bonding. You can also find customised solutions for individual application challenges. Together with customers and partners, we try out new ideas, test sample applications and optimise existing products and processes.”
The lab includes a variety of automation from small-scale tabletop systems upwards. A six-axis robot dispenses 1k or 2k adhesives with standard cartridges and mixing nozzles; six-axis robots for hot melts, or a seven-axis cobot that can apply tapes to pressing force requirements; and automated systems to provide materials pretreatment such as plasma, sandblasting or by laser.
Customers can interact with the centre in three ways, points out Christian Volpati, Industrial Adhesive and Tapes Division EMEA expertise delivery leader. First is via a virtual tour (online via www./is.gd/efifut), which contains documentation and videos. Second is via a face-to-face tour, which can be requested. The third way is by asking for testing of a sample sent in to the centre, the results of which would be shared.
The Neuss, Germany facility joins two other development laboratories in St Paul, Minnesota, and in Shanghai, China, and supplements 3M R&D laboratories around world; most countries have one, but not necessarily with automation machinery, which is hot at the moment. Volpati reports that sales enquiries for automation systems have increased by 60% compared to last year.
Lab technician Torsten Koppenhagen, one of two staff working exclusively in the facility, speculates that the supply chain difficulties seen during the COVID period have prompted reshoring, and with that greater interest in automation to reduce cost and improve quality among general industry. The interest is across sectors and across technologies, according to Koppenhagen.
Volpati says: “For us at 3M, we find value because of how close we get to the customer with production. Automation is very customised.”
Reaching that point, however, can be complex. While glue may be the key to any adhesive system, suppliers point out that there are production factors to keep in mind as well, such as means of application and dispensing. Automation adds another level of technical complexity, particularly if integrated into a customer’s fully-automatic production.
In 3M’s case, for example, every automation sales enquiry cues the involvement of second line support, in the form of either bonding product specialists or design solution specialists, in addition to application engineers. 3M has also begun technical training for distributors about the benefits of automation.
Also, the company is developing a bonding automation network, which aims to establish technical information sharing among automation partners such as robot OEMs and 3M, acting as integrator. These non-exclusive links “help us to be more like consultants when we approach end users,” Volpati says. One of the first pilots is in North America with Robotape, a partner for automated tape application via robot.
BOX: Come together, right now: the new Wuerth R&D strategy
Würth officially launched its CUR!O Reinhold Wuerth Innovation Center at the end of September, and will ramp up to full operations by the end of the year. Dr Heiko Rosskamp, head of R&D and head of the centre, answered some questions.
FAST magazine: Your company has said that you want to develop even more from a trading company to a manufacturer. Why?
Dr Heiko Rosskamp: “Würth has a very strong and service-oriented approach. Trading companies are very quick in adopting new technologies and can provide a very wide range of service. Manufacturers have a stronger focus on providing new and unique products, services and solutions to the customers. Würth combines the strength of both fields to be the best service provider for our customers and to outperform with outstanding products and quality. Würth has invested in the centre to boost this strategy and to quickly expand R&D capabilities to new fields and products.”
FAST: What facilities are available in the building? Can you explain what the laboratories and workshops do?
“Labs and workshops provide all the equipment and infrastructure for product development and QA [quality assurance] testing over the relevant product range. The building also features full chemical lab and a material analytics lab. However – as Würth is the leading manufacturer of professional fastening equipment – a big focus is on mechanical and chemical fastening. The CUR!O includes the M.A.X. – a huge 1,450m² test field for testing almost any fastening condition including central hydraulics to provide 2MN test force. This equals 200 tonnes of weight and the force can be pulsed dynamically. Battery powered tools and IoT technology are major field for our customers. Therefore the infrastructure also covers electronics R&D lab, mechatronics test beds, dynos and IoT software and hardware lab.”
FAST: Will the new centre include any customer-facing labs?
“Yes, the building features some interactive workshops that are equipped with a near-reality customer environment. We especially cover all about gluing (industry and craft environment), metal and wood construction, concrete and brick fastening and all about car workshop and workshop equipment, including power tools. These labs and workshops are focused on our division training and innovation scouting and provide the opportunity to work with selected lead customers as well.”
FAST: The centre will house multiple types of researchers, from different parts of Würth and also universities. Please would you explain why you have chosen this structure for the centre.
“The philosophy might be best described by citing Prof. Dr. Würth: ‘I always wanted to know what’s round the corner and what’s behind the mountain.’ Curiosity is the basis; interdisciplinary competence is key to find new solutions beyond the current horizon. Working with universities is an integral part of the Würth innovation culture. Now, we can bring universities and production specialists to the same locations, to the same test rigs and have them complementing each other with their specific skills.
“The InnoLab is an open space innovation floor where our employees, scientists of our partner universities and our manufacturing daughter companies work together closely and seamlessly. By sending R&D- and production specialists from our Würth group companies, we can take a significant short-cut. It will be much easier and quicker to transfer scientific innovations to industrial production. Companies sending people for project work are manly our fastening specialists. But also a company focused on car workshop service [can] join in.”
